BOX CANYON MAP
RED #1 = Take the Box Canyon Trail leading up to Glen Dome ( # 2 ) from the lower parking lot. (There is a small, but well-built bridge just past the intersection of the red and blue lines. Sorry it’s not indicated on the map.) This is an easy trail, the remnants of a Forest Service Nature Trail that once had handrails, steps and informative signage. It leads up the SW flank of Glen Dome to a vantage point where tourons can gain some great views of Jurassic Park, Poland Hill, The Lincoln Head area of I-80, all of Blair and the Sherman mountains. It also provides access to the 2 climbs on Glen Dome, etc.
BLUE = trail leading to the Crystal Freeway ( # 5 ) Just before the small bridge, cut up and right (east) along smooth slabs until you almost can’t go any further (there are actually 3 large dead trees that are somewhat aligned along this unmarked ‘path’). At that point, cut up and left over steep, but smooth rock to a higher rather flat saddle between Turtle Rock (the large formation sitting between #’s 3 and 4) and the Crystal Freeway (#5, aka the Friction Tower). Continue east and you will see the Crystal Freeway emerging on your right.
YELLOW = trail leading up to the Land of the Rising Moon ( # 3 ) At the end of the first significant switchback, past a wooden walkway, scramble up through a boulder strewn gully and continue into the saddle between Glen Dome and Turtle Rock. When you can see off the ‘backside’ of the formations, you need to go up and right over smooth slabs, trending northeast (left). Don’t worry, you’ll get there.
GREEN = trail leading up to Hypertension and Heartbreak Hotel ( # 4 ) Follow the directions to the Crystal Freeway up to the saddle between Turtle Rock and the Friction Tower. As you reach the ‘saddle’, continue northward, up broken slabs to the top. You’ll run into a small pine grove after about 200 yards. Trend slightly right from there, and not too far – the Hypertension Cirque will jump out at you!! Heartbreak Hotel is on the “backside” of this formation. Go around the corner to the right from Hypertension to get there.
* NOTE: This photo topo is a view taken from the top of the Central Massif, way above Fall Wall, looking northward and down into the Box Canyon. Trails have been superimposed upon the various formations indicating approximately how to get there. The red trail is the obvious, partially paved Box Canyon Trail (old Forest Service ‘Nature Trail’) beginning at the lower parking lot and ending near the top of Glen Dome. The other trails are not so obvious, and in fact, require some inventive rock hopping. That’s the way it is.
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